Elder Scrolls Online’s Dragonknight Update Has Me Begging For More

The Dragonknight is by far my favorite class in ESO. With countless damage-over-time ticks, resilient self-healing, and awesome ultimate animations, the god-like pyrokinetic fury of the Dragonknight is unmatched. And ESO gave us DK fans some big news this January. The much-requested class refresh starts with the Dragonknight in Update 49, coming this spring. The ESO team posted a hefty article about the update which you can read here, but I’ll try to summarize the main more succinctly to save you some time. Below, I’ve put the identified issue first, and what Update 49 will change to adjust or fix it, along with one of the new skills or morphs.

Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax Online Studios

ISSUE:The damage-over-time effects are built the same for every class.

SOLUTION: The Dragonknight will have ramping effects introduced, which get stronger the longer active combat goes, as well as unique damage-over-time functionalities.

Avalanche (originally Eternal Mountain): This passive now causes you to gain a stack of Avalanche when you deal damage, increasing your damage done by 1% per stack, up to 10 times. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds for rank 1 and 5 seconds for rank 2. Every 2 seconds you fail to deal damage, you lose a single stack.

ISSUE: The rhythm of the Dragonknight rotation is known for the “swingy” highs and lows of combat, pulling back from the brink with punchy ultimates.

SOLUTION: Combat will further emphasize a rotation that leads up to an eruption of fiery power.

Engulfing Dragonfire (originally Engulfing Flames): This morph is now the rework morph, which costs Magicka instead of Stamina. This morph now channels the flame attack in front of you over 4.8 seconds and deals 20% increased damage when it hits an enemy, up to once every second, and up to a maximum of 80%.

Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax Online Studios

ISSUE: Skill lines make Dragonknights less optimal to subclass into. 

SOLUTION: Dragonknights will get unique abilities that are dispersed between skill lines. The variation should make you second guess trading one for a subclass; every skill line will have something useful for each role.

Blood of the Elder Dragon (originally Coagulating Blood): This morph continues to change the heal scaling to offensive stats. It now also heals allies within 10 meters of you for 2/3rds of the original scaling. It also grants Minor Courage and Major Fortitude to any healed target, instead of just Major Fortitude to you.

ISSUE: Dragonknights are significantly less effective in the support role, lacking the core skills that would make them viable healers.

SOLUTION: Dragonknights will get more abilities and passives for a niche support role, like a ranged damage reduction buff for nearby group members.

Protect the Brood (originally Dragonfire Scale): This morph has been reworked to be a support morph. It no longer deals Flame damage back to attackers while active and sacrifices the new area knockback on activation. This morph grants group members within 12 meters 25% reduced damage taken from projectiles for 6 seconds and adds Minor Protection for 20 seconds to you and group members affected. It continues to grant you Major Expedition as well. Note that this effect cannot stack with itself or any other version of the ranged damage reduction.

Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax Online Studios

If you haven’t done a deep dive, definitely check out the full article on elderscrollsonline.com. What are you most excited for with the Dragonknight? Let me know in the comments below!